New photos of Great-Grandparents, and Burse K. Walker gravesite

In the past week, I came across two photos of my maternal great-grandparents that I had never seen before this year. The first is of Dewey Lee Stansberry and Leona Jackson Stansberry, from their 50th anniversary. I had seen a group photo before of them and their children, but not one of the parents by themselves.

The second photo is of Perry Nathan Walker and Callie Ocoee Dodson Walker.

I also finally located the gravesite of Burse K. Walker, younger brother of Perry Nathan Walker. I've been on a trek for about two years to locate the final resting places of the children of James Morgan Walker. Burse's grave was in the Calhoun First Baptist cemetery, right where his son Wilburn said it was, and he is buried next to his wife Rosie May.  Unfortunately my phone camera's battery died before I could take a photo, but I will be sure to get a photo next time I am in town.

Phyllis Moon Shelton, 1922-2012

My Granny Phyllis is gone. Most of my fondest memories of her were from my childhood, sitting at her kitchen table while she fed me.... plate after plate after plate :)   .....She always made sure everyone had plenty to eat, it was her act of love to us.  Growing up, I still remember her planting flowers outside her house, so much that it gave the backyard a distinct smell that I remember to this day.  Sometimes even today, if I am outdoors at some random place and I catch a certain fragrance drifting by, it will cause instant memories of my Granny's house.

She died this past Monday morning, February 20th, and was buried in Good Hope Baptist Cemetery in Meigs County, TN, next to her parents and most of her siblings. We will all miss her.

This was back in December 2008, the first time Granny met Maple, right after she was born.

A new mystery....

I recently had the opportunity to visit with my great-uncle Dave Walker and his wife Wilma. Dave is my grandmother's younger brother, and has the same first and middle name as I do (Joshua David). I asked them if they had any old photos of the Walker family, but at the time they didn't think they had any. Then several days later Aunt Wilma emailed me an old photo of a woman. She told me that it was given to Dave by one of his cousins, and he told him it was of his "Grandmother Walker."

I had never seen this photo before, so I was pretty excited to see it, but when I started to connect the dots, something didn't seem right. "Grandmother Walker," would have been Laura Walker, wife of James Morgan Walker. I have photos of Laura, and this woman does not look like her at all. I asked Aunt Wilma about this, and she wondered if it could possibly be Uncle Dave's Great-Grandmother Walker.... which means it would be Martha Suttle Walker, wife of Oliver Perry Walker.

I'm no expert when it comes to the type of clothing people wore during certain time periods, but this doesn't look like something somebody wore around 1920, which is when Laura Walker (my 2nd-great-grandmother) passed on. Furthermore, Laura was in her mid-fifties when she died. The woman in this picture is much older, and it is well established that Martha Suttle Walker was around 72 when she died.  I would love to be able to find out, with more certainty, that this is actually my 3rd-great-grandmother, Martha Suttle Walker. 

Well I was afraid this would happen.....

Just a few months after starting a blog I care about, and I've already grown negligent.  Part of that I blame on a sharp decrease in activity in the genealogy hunt....  I'm hoping the new year will bring with it new discoveries and information.

One of my aunt's recently informed me that she had discovered a collection of old photos at my grandmother's house so I will be very excited to see those the next time I go back home to visit my folks.  I had hoped over the Christmas holiday that I would be able to visit some libraries in GA and AL to look up some back-history on my wife's family but the whole family ended up getting sick! So that didn't happen.

Burse K. Walker, and correction to last post

Funny coincidence: just a few days after the last post, Wilburn Walker comes up from Florida to visit my grandmother.  If I didn't live three hours away, I really would have liked to meet him, and compare notes on the Walker family.  Through my mom over the phone, I was able to tell him where Laura Walker (James Morgan's wife) was buried.

The first mistake I made was saying that Wilburn was Burse K. Walker's grandson. I learned that Wilburn was actual Burse's son.  Wilburn also told my mom that his parents Burse and Rosie were buried in Calhoun Community Cemetery, just a hop and a skip away from my parents' home.

If only I had known. Next time I go home, I will have to go and look for their headstones.

James Morgan Walker

JAMES MORGAN WALKER (or Morgan Walker), my 2nd-great grandfather, was born 5 Aug 1860 in Catoosa Co., Georgia, and died sometime after 1930 in Walker Co., Georgia (despite his headstone reading "1929," which several folks have told me is wrong). He is buried in Chattooga Baptist Church Cemetery in Walker Co., Georgia, near several of his relatives. I visited his grave awhile back upon learning that his newer headstone was in the wrong spot. At the time I was unable to locate his old headstone. Now that I know where his older stone is located, I will someday plan a return trip.

James' parents were Oliver Perry Walker (1821-1865), a Confederate soldier who died a P.O.W., and Martha M. Suttle (1824-1896). Both his parents were from Rutherford County, N.C.

My link to Nancy Shelton

Just a quick follow-up to my last post...   This is how I am descended from Nancy Shelton by generation.

+ Nancy Shelton (1795 - ????)
++ Manuel Shelton (4 JUL 1822 - 10 MAR 1908)
+++ William Goodin Shelton (14 JAN 1860 - 14 DEC 1947)
++++ Roy Rector Shelton, Sr. (20 JAN 1896 - 16 JUN 1966)
+++++ Living Person
++++++ Joshua David Shelton